Fig. 17. Ground plan of the house shown in [Figs. 16] and [19].
The planning of a house is not difficult if wants are clearly defined and the principles of economy, dignity, durability and repose, as applied to the exterior of the house, are fairly well understood. If the site is ample, and it always is in the country, you have but to draw a rectangle, the length of which is one-third to one-fourth longer than its breadth. [Fig. 17] is a ground plan of the house shown in [Fig. 16].
The farm house shown in [Fig. 18] is located thirty feet from a dusty, muddy, much-traveled public highway. Opposite to it, and immediately on the road, are located the ill-kept farm buildings. How the aromas of the stables and kitchen are to be kept each on its respective side of the road is a question difficult to solve. Here, as in so many cases, the wife showed better training and more commendable pride in her surroundings and her workshop than the husband. She may coax him some day to set a few trees, which may serve in part to hide his workshop on the other side. There are many things about this farm house which are commendable, and the only wonder is that so few mistakes were made in planning it. Farmers’ wives must have a sort of natural intuition; how else can the fewness of their mistakes be explained, for they have seldom received the slightest instruction along the lines of house-building. True, the tower on the corner is expensive and inappropriate, but if the house had an appropriate setting of trees and shrubs it might be beautiful.
Fig. 18. The house is too fancy. The small projections make it look weak. The view is not attractive.
The farm house should have one large bed-room on the first floor, a well appointed kitchen and living room. When the size, number, and arrangement of the other rooms are fixed, the lines which bound the outside of the rooms will not, of necessity, always coincide with the rectangular lines. On one side the house may extend slightly over, on another fall short of the lines which bound the rectangle. Does the rectangle embody fitness and beauty? If the manufactured things by which we are surrounded are noted, it will be seen how many of them are rectangular. The book, the sheet of paper, the pamphlet, the photograph, the picture frame on the wall, the rug on the floor, the writing case, the chiffonier, the trunk, and thousands of objects of use and beauty naturally take the rectangular form: then why not the house? Man constructs along the lines of acute, obtuse, and right angles unless there are specific reasons for adopting curves, while nature’s modes adhere closely to circular and curved outlines.
A front view of a substantial, appropriate house fronting to the west is shown in [Fig. 19]. It is the house of which a rear view is shown in [Fig. 16]. The wide, projecting eaves, the simple roof over the second-story windows, and the plain veranda, all protect the windows from storm and the glaring afternoon sun. The eave-trough near the edge of the roof serves to relieve the plainness of the projecting roof, which really has no cornice. The side and ends of some of the rafters are seen, and no attempt has been made to box them in. The treatment is dignified, plain, inexpensive, and suitable,—therefore it is beautiful. The planting at the left is too thick for any but a dry climate. A lofty elm tree would serve better for shading the veranda in the late afternoon, and permit of better air drainage. The trees shown are deciduous, and therefore cannot form an ideal winter windbreak. If they were evergreens they would be entirely too close to the house. The mournful sighing of evergreen trees in the bleak November winds does not promote cheerfulness.
Fig. 19. A dignified, restful, economical house.
Four college buildings are shown in [Figs. 20], [21], [23], and [24]. School buildings can hardly be said to be a part of the farm lay-out, but they will serve quite as well as farm buildings to educate the taste and to train the eye and the judgment. The reader will see at once which two of these buildings are most dignified and pleasing.